Chapter 26 (TROHP)
Review Responses: keyblademeister88: Yeah, I'm not a fan of Granger. Yaw6113: I'm glad you like the story. Everything is pre-written up to half of chapter 30, I'm just spacing things out while I work on my other story. Uncanny Genius: Thanks! Gime'SS: You're welcome. Kego66: Yeah, I enjoyed killing her too. I believe the killing of Weasley's and Hermione Granger's is meant to be enjoyed. slytherpuffrules: Thanks, here you go. comodo50: You'll find out if you're wrong or right in this chapter. Authors Note: In this chapter, towards the end, you'll see Harry kill someone truly disgusting; a pedo and rapist, and he will encounter him after he preyed upon two victims. I debated over that scene for days, but eventually decided to include it, for one simple reason: He is what Harry could have become, but didn't. I consider Harry dark and quite evil, but not totally and completely evil. Ramirez, however, is truly sick. Consider this a trigger warning, and please note that you can merely skip the "July 4th/One week later" section. June 24th, 1995. It was finally the day of the third task and James would win this, I knew it. He caught up to the seventh years in magical knowledge, and had spent June practicing and honing his skill with it and the other years of spells that were rushed through. His skill in dueling had greatly improved, and I expected him to either win or at least come second only to Fleur. Coming second to Diggory or Krum was unacceptable, both were inferior magically, mentally, and in bloodline. I was so proud of James, though, he had stopped being lazy and had become a mid-level Sorcerer. I just hoped that was enough to survive combat with a weakened Voldemort. I had finally managed to achieve my short-term goal of becoming a tier-three Archmage, and was half-way to tier-four. I was in position to ascend to Magus status in the event of an emergency, but that was a last resort and my recent plans involved waiting until I was a Tier-three Magus and half-way to four. Waiting until then would propel my power towards the limit of my scale, but that would likely be years from now. I added Snape's power to my own, but that was nothing more than a drop in a vast ocean of power. His skills, however, were highly useful to me and I was already planning on bolstering my personal stores of potions and taking my DADA mastery test early. I had been spending some spare time putting tracking spells on Dumbledore and Voldemort's supporters. I was fortunate that there were so few tracking spells that countering and even using them was a rarity, this would enable me to track my enemies and even get an idea where a Fidelius Charm is cast. The charm may void my tracking spell temporarily, but it wouldn't dispel it. That would require knowledge of the charm and how to counter it. I was smart enough to create a modified version and then protect it under family magic, and that made countering and analyzing it far more difficult. I was getting visibly annoyed and concerned for my brother, he hadn't returned and hadn't won the tournament yet. Krum, Diggory, and Fleur had already returned. Diggory was the first and had tried beating my brother in a duel to remove him from the tournament. He was dominated in that duel, proving James the better wizard, and humiliating Diggory once more. Krum had been Imperioused and hurt Fleur, but was taken out by James. That weak-minded idiot would have to be dealt with, and in such a way that couldn't be traced back to me. Karkaroff had already fled to the house that I had placed under the Fidelius, which I found quite pathetic, considering that he was safe at Hogwarts. It was small, but very nice for a single man and very well warded, when I made that deal with Karkaroff I actually improved the warding by getting a wardstone that could handle Mage level wards. It was far from the best, but would take more than Voldemort or Dumbles to break. It would likely magically exhaust whichever side eventually tracked him, and I was sure that would eventually happen and would be entirely Karkaroff's fault. I knew that he would eventually do something stupid and expose himself. Finally, James slammed down onto the ground, and cheers and screams of joy broke out from the audience. My family and I went to go congratulate him on his victory, Fudge, and Augusta and Alexander were already there. "Voldemort's back," James said to the group near him. I could tell that Fudge didn't believe him, but I saw that Augusta and Alexander were faking the appropriate level of concern. "I'll take him to the hospital wing," Moody said, grabbing at James. I wandlessly stunned him. "No, you'll be questioned under Veritaserum due to suspicious behavior." I summoned his flask, and smelled its contents. "Polyjuice Potion," I said, before handing it to Professor Slughorn to verify, and he quickly agreed. I relieved 'Moody' of his wand and levitated him away, Mom and Dad did the same for James. Fudge just left the hospital wing where he witnessed Crouch's interrogation and was presented with evidence proving Voldemort had returned. Fudge still didn't believe him, the evidence, or my brother, and his Dementor kissed Crouch, which destroyed a viable witness. But, I had just caught up with him, and I had to regain control of him and even increase it. "Minister Fudge, we need to talk. I know you don't believe us, but he is back and I'm willing to help you stay in power through the crisis and even offer you protection from the wolves of the world." I said, having stopped him. "Why would I need protection?!" Fudge questioned angrily. "Because Voldemort has returned, and it's only a matter of time before the people get desperate and want Dumbledore pardoned for his horrible crimes and give him political power. He was the only one Voldemort ever feared, but Dumbledore is truthfully no better than the Dark Lord. He cannot hold a position here, but he could come after your job and the people would give it to him. I can make sure my families efforts to announce Voldemorts return aren't so severe that it endangers your position as Minister, and will even give you great advice that will improve your approval ratings greatly." I said, choosing my hastily formed words carefully. "I can even improve your families wards and might get you a minor title of nobility." "I agree!" Fudge said, his greed shining through. Idiot... I just became the Magical King of Britain in all but title. "What do I do first?" "First, let the news of Voldemorts return spread, and when it does you state that you will do everything in your power to increase funding for the DMLE and create remedial schools for those seeking careers as Aurors, Hit-Wizards, and Healers. This will show that even if you don't believe us, that you're willing to take measures to make Britain feel safe." Fudge seemed compliant, so I continued. "This will also greatly strengthen the Ministries capabilities in the long-term and serve to improve your public image." Oh yes, my plans were going well... June 27th, 1995- The former Malfoy Manner. Hogwarts students had finally been let out for summer break. I had already returned to Durmstrang, retrieved Grindelwalds remaining loot and returned home. I had decided to take my Mastery tests at ICW headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland in my spare time. When I left Durmstrang, having decided to continue my education at home, my grandparents left with me, resigning from their positions; to my immense surprise so did Professor White, but that was nothing compared to when he gave me his blessing to marry Nysa, he kind of insisted on it, and admitted to knowing that I had sex with her. He made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that she was to become my Lady Black. I agreed and invited him to a gathering I was having, and suggested someone he might bond with. That gathering would be occurring soon and my family would get to meet their new allies. Nicolas and Perenelle were the first to arrive via Portkey. "Welcome," I said to them. "Nicolas, Perenelle I would like you to meet my family... My father, Lord James Potter, my mother, Lady Lily Potter, and my younger brother James Potter Jr. This is my godfather Sirius Black." I said, gesturing to each person. "I'd like you all to meet Nicolas and Perenelle Flamel, the first of my allies." The next to arrive were Cort and Fleur Delacour. I repeated the introductions after a failed joke about a french invasion. Augusta and Alexander were next to arrive, followed by Advik Patil. "Everyone. I'd like you to meet Advik Patil: Commander of the War Mages of Asia..." Next was, Aaron Wulf, the Warlord trying to restore Israel to its former glory. I introduced him as such. "I'm only here because you promised to compensate me greatly in exchange for hearing you out." "And I will. A thousand gold bars should be enough to continue your efforts." I replied. He nodded in agreement. Next to arrive was my grandparents, and Nysa and Perseus White. I promptly introduced them. Damian Garcia and Aleksander Vann arrived next, followed by Vann's allies in other Russian oppressed countries. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Damian Garcia of Spain, and Aleksander Vann of Ukraine." I said, as Garcia glared at Cort and Advik. "I wasn't aware that War Mages would be attendance," Damian said, in an accusing tone. "Yes, I've persuaded them to reconsider their positions on Morocco." I said, getting his hopes up. "Though, I hope you'll honor your side of our agreement..." I added, making the threat clear. "I will." "I assume you can honor yours, boy." Vann said, glaring at me. "I can, but don't ever call me boy again." I replied, causing him to smirk. "And if I do?" He asked. "Then you'll find out why you're the only one here stupid enough to challenge me." I responded, causing him to become angry, but he fortunately realized that other more powerful and skilled people respected me and chose to be silent. That was a very wise choice. Better late than never, I suppose. Davi Bitencourt, Alejandro Abreu both arrived at the same time. "Welcome!" I said, as they recovered from the Portkey trip. "Everyone, I'd like you to meet Devi Bitencourt, of Brazil, and Alejandro Abreu, of Argentina. Welcome, gentlemen." "Thank you for inviting us." Devi said in reply. "You're both welcome. Let's all get inside so we can begin." I said, gesturing them inside. They all obeyed the command. We arrived in the meeting room a few minutes later, and we seated ourselves. "I suppose, I should begin with why you were contacted... Britain's Dark Lord, Voldemort, born Tom Marvolo Middle has recently had his body restored, but we were warned by Britain's self-styled Light Lord Albus Dumbledore of it, and I began recruiting allies starting with the Flamels. Naturally, I don't expect your aid purely out of the kindness of your hearts. You all have goals to achieve, enemies needing defeated, and projects that have stalled. My offer is simple; a favor for a favor." "I'm interested, but my largest issue is funding for my war." Aaron Wulf, Warlord of Israel said. Several seemed to share his problem. "While I am nowhere near Nicolas' skill level in Alchemy, I have acquired the means to produce Chrysopoeia and have successfully done so. Rest assured, funding is easily resolved and I can honor prior and future agreements." I was lucky those descendants of Greek gods studied Ancient Greek Alchemy, it enabled me to fund this venture. I had my elf bring samples of the bars to my guests. "There, detection spells can prove that it's real gold." They all cast the detection spells and were satisfied, I was glad that I remembered to suggest they learn the spell if they hadn't already. I informed them that they could either keep them or leave them on the table. They all naturally opted to keep them. "I can provide funding, and Advik and Cort have both agreed to speak in support of those being oppressed by Magical Russia, and to conveniently forget about Morocco." I said, winning support of the former Soviet countries and Spain. "Have I addressed your money related concerns?" They all nodded, a few had clear greed obvious in their eyes. "You have the support of Magical Spain, Mr. Potter." Damian Garcia announced. The representatives of Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Georgia, Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Moldova, Lithuania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Finland proclaimed their support. I wish I had gotten the rest of the former Soviet countries, but Finland was an unexpected but welcome addition. They were all just tired of dealing with Russia's harassment and have asked to join the Anti-Russia effort. That handled three parties at the table, Ukraine was chosen to speak for the former Soviet countries. "Bitencourt and Abreu, are you still having issues with Ramirez?" I asked, having not kept up with the situation. "Yes, he humiliated us during a 'diplomatic meeting'." Abreu replied, putting diplomatic meeting in air quotes. "If he isn't dealt with soon then Mexico will control South America. Only Panama and Colombia stand in his way." "How powerful is he?" Aaron Wolf asked. "An Archmage, we've no idea how close to Magus status he is, though. We know he abuses Sex Magic rituals to rapidly grow his power, the sad part is that those rituals don't have horrible side-effects that we can take advantage of." Bitencourt replied with an undertone of bitterness. "So, Advik and I will eventually have to confront him together to achieve victory. Two Archmages should be enough." "You're an Archmage?! You can't be older than sixteen!" Bitencourt exclaimed. "Yes, I am, and I'm fourteen by the way. I recently reworked the old power measuring spell, and I'm half-way to Magus status. I suspect that Advik is much more powerful, so between us we should have power greater than a Magus." I said, causing shocked exclamations all around the room. "Hadrian, I'd like you to measure my power with your spell," Advik said, from near me. I nodded and cast the spell. The information flowed into my mind...Tier-four Archmage. "Well?" Advik asked. "Tier-four Archmage." The one weakness of my spell was that it didn't specify mid or low level in a rank. "A great spell that you modified." Advik replied. "You made it vastly superior to the much older version." "You have the support of Magical Brazil and Argentina, but when can you deal with Ramirez?" Bitencourt said. "Advik and I; along with the two of you, will have to schedule something, my schedule is largely free and open, but I doubt yours are." "Understandable. Now, perhaps we can all hear what you want from all of us in exchange." Bitencourt replied. "When we have advanced warning we will likely request soldiers from you, or the names of well-behaved mercenaries to hire." Several of them seemed to have realized why they were invited. "...And most of us have our own private armies and extensive contacts." Wulf said in realization. "Yes, and I will be aiding in return, though I'll have to employ precision strikes intended get the best results with the least time. I'm confident that I can greatly help you achieve a few of your goals in a month, with some background information and knowledge of your Jus In Bello." "Very well," Wulf replied. "In that case you have the support of Magical Israel and my army." "Excellent! Are there any other concerns or issues to be raised?" I asked, with a smile. "Not an issue or concern, but I think even one of you can easily defeat Ramirez. He's not very skilled, he just pours power into spells and focuses on doing damage to enemies." Abreu said. I began quickly forming plans. "That's good to know, and should greatly speed up the resolution of this threat. Anything else?" "The gold that was promised to aid our projects." Aleksander Vann said, somewhat insistently. "Of course," I said, before summoning my house-elves. They gave magically expanded trunks full of gold bars to Vann, Wulf, Garcia, and several others leading their countries rebellions against Magical Russia. "If any of you would like to stay the night, you may. I know Portkey's can be very unpleasant." They all refused and quickly left. Well except for Nysa, Perseus, Advik, and Cort and Fleur. "That went well." Cort said, somewhat grudgingly. "Yes, it did." I agreed, ignoring his tone. "Fleur wants to move in with you, by the way." Cort said, with an amused smile. "Fine with me." "When are you marrying my daughter?" Perseus asked. "If she wants to marry me, then I'll go buy a ring and make a proper proposal. I already love her and have told her so..." I said in reply. "She will be your eventual Lady Black," Perseus said, leaving no room for argument. "That was the plan, but don't be a pest." "Why the fixation on House Black? Are you after my families money, artifacts or knowledge?" Sirius asked, suspiciously. "I already have access to that, Siri." Perseus replied with a smirk, and caused Sirius to become confused at the familiar nickname. He quickly shifted his features, and took his true form. The form of Regulus Arcturus Black. "Surprise, big brother!" Sirius was gaping in shock. "Yes, I defected from the Death Eaters, and even tried opposing Voldemort before having to fake my death to escape." Nysa also took her own true form, and looked like a younger version of Bellatrix Lestrange. Was it weird that I was turned on by that? "Well, I'll let you and Regulus talk!" I said, before leading Nysa away. "When will you go after Ramirez?" Advik asked in interest. "I'll probably leave fairly soon and do research ahead of time and when I'm done, I'll drop by Bitencourt's and announce my success. It'll demonstrate my skill, power, and the fact that I can get to them, if they find a way around the oaths they agreed too." I responded, my answer getting the approval of Advik and Cort. "Be careful, Hadrian, I advise you to ambush him or even avoid direct combat." Advik suggested. "I'll strongly consider that. I was reluctant to fight him anyway, but I have a strategy that works well for me and I intend to use it." July 4th, 1995. One week later... It was a busy week full of sex and work. I had placed the Black family properties under the Fidelius with myself and Sirius as the Secret Keepers. I planned to improve the wards on all Black properties when I returned to Britain, but for now I had to focus. I disapparated away to Hector Ramirez's mansion. I arrived moments later and began inspecting the wards around it, once more. Ramirez was a paranoid bastard and kept his wards at full strength after sundown, and considering that I was here to kill him; his paranoia was quite justified. He had incredibly powerful wards that rivaled Hogwarts in strength, but greatly outdated and no where near master level work. He didn't trust anyone enough to let them inside his mansion and that would be his downfall. I created a hole in the wards and slipped inside, while keeping my magic sense on high alert, and disillusioning and silencing myself. I quickly cast my own wards against Disapparition, Portkeys and a few other forms of travel, and used his wards power to support and rapidly strengthen them. He would have to collapse all of his wards to collapse mine, and the best part was that my magic channeled in the spells became untraceable by fusing with his families magic. His ancestors were literally destroying the evidence of their descendants murder! I quickly incapacitated two guards using close range Coma Curses and making sure the spellfire was unseen, by waiting until they were out of sight. I quickly placed them in a magically expanded trunks, which were modified to hold prisoners. I spent the next twenty minutes eliminating the large amount of guards, until, finally, I was outside Ramirez' bedroom door. I sensed a large power, which I estimated to be a Tier-two Archmage, and two smaller powers which were merely average. I rendered the door intangible and entered his room. What I saw made my blood boil, his two 'lovers' were children who were bleeding out of their... I couldn't look at them any longer. He raped children for power! I telekinetically restrained him, and then hit that swine with a Coma Curse. I quickly bound him in power restraining objects and placed him in the prison that I created for him. I only wished that it was more painful. Sadly, it was a painless elimination, but I could always cause him some pain later. I cast some healing spells on the children and placed them into a deeper sleep and when I was done here, I would take them back to their families. I just needed to loot the mansion first. I was hoping for Mayan or Incan battle-magic, I badly wanted that power at my disposal and was hoping that it was worth knowing. I spent the last hour looting his mansion, stealing magical knowledge, treasure, and emptying private stashes of money and artifacts. It was very profitable, but I needed to focus on the task at hand. I was back at my hide-out, with all of my prisoners and Ramirez in comas and Ramirez was securely bound. His minions had a decent combined power, and I would most likely absorb it all. "Potentiam, tuam accipio, ut mihi." I said. I felt foreign knowledge enter my mind, as a wave of energy was released from my sacrifice. I felt Ramirez' knowledge enter my mind, and become mine. I felt my body absorb copies of his skill and experience, which wasn't much, but I suddenly passed out, before I could marvel further. I awoke an unknown amount of time later, my body was almost vibrating with power which was begging to be unleashed. Ramirez's death served a great and noble purpose, his knowledge was quite lacking, but I gained some battle-magic. Sadly, it was unimpressive. It was still knowledge and would be recorded though. I learned that he used the same sex rituals that I had access too, but he would rape children to acquire his power, and that was a line that I refused to cross. I set his body aside, and scanned the mind of his chief of security. He was much more knowledgeable and experienced than Ramirez. He lived alone and hoarded magical knowledge to master, and he actually had the power to use most of it. He did know his limitations though, so perhaps that was why. I spent the next four hours sacrificing my captured enemies, looting their libraries and other useful objects, and then I returned the girls to their families via a local hospital. And Ramirez? I put him back in his house with his dead guards and made it look like a massacre of his men and then him being brutally tortured. I did castrate the bastard, and was quite proud that I could hit such a small target. I left hours before before Mexico's Aurors arrived, but little did I know that this was just the beginning of my bloody summer.